Away with the Mangled
Cuddles took a few steps away from his car after grabbing a backpack from the back seat. His friend, Toothy, got out of the passenger's seat just a moment later, his large tail slapping against the frame. The purple beaver grinned as Cuddles walked ahead. "Are you sure about this?" he asked, "We don't know what's in there." He said this in a half-joking tone. Cuddles shot a grin back at his friend, "C'mon, you're not chickening out, are you?" Toothy scoffed, "As if! Just testing if you haven't lost your nerve." The two friends had a laugh as they headed on foot, as the road had narrowed and gotten so rough to the point where the car could go no further. Though they were in their mid-twenties, the pair had an almost teenage desire to prove themselves to others. This was primarily, as many children did, through bravery, and they had a prime target to test that on.
The pair had caught wind of a rumor from Sniffles, the resident scientist and archaeologist, that there was an old manor several miles south of town. Apparently, he had explored it earlier, and found that it was from an ancient age, one in which death was permanent. The thing that interested the two was what he said next. During his exploration, Sniffles found several claw marks, large ones. That night, he claimed he heard something roaring from the manor all the way from his camp. While Sniffles himself dismissed it as his imagination, when he told the two, aware of their little adventures, their eyes lit up with glee.
About a three-hour drive later, there they were. Cuddles wiped the sweat of the summer heat from his brow, the rabbit's yellow fur glistening in the setting sun. "We should get a move on. It shouldn't be much farther," Toothy said, running ahead, occasionally glancing at the device Sniffles gave them. Looking at the device, Toothy found that he was correct, it was only about a ten-minute walk from their current location. As the two boys ran down the road, they began exchanging ideas about what was really going on at the manor, and how cool they would seem after they debunked it. In no time, they pair arrived at the manor. It looked to be about two stories high. For such an old place, it looked surprisingly well-kept. At the very least, they couldn't see any noticeable damage. The only noticeable age they saw from the outside was the gate in the front yard and the front door; the gate was absolutely covered in rust, and they could tell even from their location that the front door was rotting. The pair were confused, if this manor was as old as Sniffles claimed, why would it not be falling apart? Their confusion didn't last long, as they saw the sun setting further still, and decided that if they were going to prove their courage, they should hightail it inside.
The gate was rather stubborn, the two having to put quite a bit of muscle into forcing it open. It took a while, but the pair managed. After brushing their hands off to try and get the rust off, they approached the door. Cuddles gave it a ginger push, primarily because of its age, and the door opened easily. The pair grabbed flashlights from their bag and looked around. The two were stunned by how surprisingly beautiful the place was. Along the floor was a beautiful, if worn and tattered, deep-purple carpet. The red, torn wallpaper lined a series of extinguished torches, and despite the obvious wear, it all looked oddly cozy. The only things detracting from it were the smell of mold throughout the building and the several claw marks on the walls and floor. Cuddles walked over to one of them and got a closer look. Whatever made these marks, it was clearly big. He looked over at Toothy who gave him a slightly uneasy look. The two decided that perhaps a feral bear had gotten into the place and went berserk. Still, they were relieved that they brought a pocket knife with them, just in case. In front of them was a gigantic staircase, above them was a massive chandelier, and to their immediate left and right were hallways. They decided to look into the left hallway, and soon came to what appeared to be a dining room. The table, clearly having gone through immense amounts of wear, was enormous; obviously whoever owned this place had either a large number of servants or had many guests to feed. Another chandelier was above the table. Immediately in front of them was a door, and upon opening it, they reached the kitchen. Upon arriving, the two were immediately disgusted by the scent of rotting meat. Upon flashing their lights around, they found several piles of bones on the counter, all of various feral creatures. Some of them had been picked clean, while some of them still had some meat on them, judging by the maggots cheerfully squirming, delighting in their grim feast. Cuddles' light flashed upon the corpse of a feral deer, the little beasts going to town on it, and gagged a bit. Toothy cleared his throat, "I guess that monster's been busy," he joked, trying to lighten the mood. Judging by Cuddles' grin, it worked. "Yeah, and we're next on the menu," he retorted. Toothy laughed, "Yeah, right, I'm tough enough to take that thing on." Cuddles chuckled, "Which one of us held up an elephant?" Toothy laughed harder at that, "Uh huh, and which one of us has won most of our arm-wrestling matches?" The light-hearted banter continued for a few minutes before the boys decided to move on to the other rooms.
Taking the hallway to the right of the entrance this time, the two came to a massive sitting room. A massive, worn, plush couch against the left wall welcomed the tired pair to sit down, which they gleefully accepted. They marveled at the gigantic, ornate, gothic window in front of the couch, spanning the entire right wall. The window had stone lines every few feet or so, and between each line were several small, metallic bars going in diagonals across the glass, forming simplistic diamond shapes. Despite the wear on it, it was entirely intact, and looked simply beautiful. Yet, it was the fact that it was entirely intact that confused the boys. Shouldn't it be broken by now, especially since it was so old? The boys looked at each other, at first confused, then grinned. To them, this proved that this whole thing was just some story spun by Sniffles to try and trick them, and perhaps he was waiting at the manor in a costume to attempt to scare them. Sure, the explanation had holes, such as why did Sniffles not try to do so earlier, and why so elaborate of a ruse, but it was the best explanation they had for such a thing. After all, like them, Sniffles was rather childish at heart, despite being the same age as the two adults. Looking around, they saw a worn pool table near the couch, and a series of plush chairs, obviously for the guests and the manor's master. Finally, there was a record player nearby. After testing it, they found, to their surprise, that it still worked, playing a soft, simple, somber tune. They stood, dumbfounded, how could it still work after what must have been centuries? They dismissed it as another piece of evidence of this all being a ruse.
Once they were done exploring the room, they decided to explore one of two corridors under the stairs. Upon choosing the left one, they soon came into a large room filled with crates. They soon discovered that the right one led here as well. After Toothy pried one of the boxes open, causing some damage as he used only his hands, they found that the crates were filled to the brim with bottles of wine. After lifting up one of the boxes, it was noticeably heavy, Toothy saw one of the labels was still intact. "Leacome Royal Winery," it read, with part of a crown upon the label. They saw a door at the back, but after trying the handle, it was locked. They simply shrugged and continued upstairs.
After reaching the upstairs, they took the hall on the right, which came to a large library, seemingly filled to the brim with bookcases. It was a miracle that the rotting floorboards hadn't collapsed under their weight. One that stood out to them was The Wonders of the Soul, simply because it was the only one open on a table. It said something regarding "soul energy", and the potential uses it could have. Upon taking the hallway opposite the library, they saw a large room filled with beds. This was more than likely the servants' quarters. After heading to the landing and taking another right, the two gasped. Sitting in the middle of the room was an enormous vault, filled to the brim with gold, silver, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and even a few diamonds. Cuddles immediately rushed over and started stuffing his pockets full of the stuff, and Toothy did the same after a few moments. After a bit, Toothy dumped out the supplies and started shoving the valuables into the bag until it could just barely close. After the pair were satisfied with their haul, they explored the one hallway remaining, coming across a bedroom with a massive, plush bed. This had to be the master bedroom. Upon looking out the window, they saw that it was getting dark. After heading back to the vault to grab their snacks, they decided it was time to head to bed. Luckily, the bed was surprisingly comfortable, even after all these years. Snuggling against each other for warmth in the drafty room, the pair drifted off to sleep.
Cuddles and Toothy were awoken by a loud crash from the foyer. Looking at each other in surprise, they decided to see what was the matter, flashlights in hand. Upon reaching the foyer, they saw that the chandelier had fallen. They stopped for a second, laughing, before they heard another sound, something was in the servants' quarters. The two grinned, turned off their flashlights, and hid under the stairs, waiting. This had to be Sniffles, and they weren't about to let him surprise them. They sat there for what felt like a minute, stifling a giggle, intent on turning this ruse against Sniffles. However, their playful joy was stifled slightly when they heard the footsteps. Whatever this thing was, it was big, much too big to be Sniffles. The two locked eyes, confused. "Maybe it's one of Sniffles' bots?" Toothy asked in a whisper. They thought for a moment, shouldn't there be a mechanical buzz if this was a machine? Then again, Sniffles was a brilliant inventor, perhaps he managed to stifle these sounds, even from a machine this large. Before long, they heard the footsteps going to where the vault was. Cuddles shrugged, "Maybe he programed it to patrol this place," he said softly. Toothy squinted in the darkness to try and get a look at it as it passed into the vault room, and could only confirm its size in the dim moonlight. This has to be one of his bots, he thought, there's no way this thing… Before he could finish his thought, a deafening roar coursed through the building. The two looked at each other, this wasn't a mechanical sound, this sounded real, organic and dripping with sheer, primal fury. Beads of sweat broke out on their foreheads, this had to be a joke, right? "Come out, little rats! Allow me to teach you what happens to thieves in my house!" At this, their blood ran cold. The voice, it was deep, almost animalistic, and notes of other voices could be heard within. One sounded like a little boy, another sounded like a young woman, yet another sounded like a gruff man's voice. Other tinges of voices were heard as well, yet their identification was lost within the creature's scream. Within the roar, however, the most prominent was the sound of an old gentleman. That and it claiming it owned the place made them realize this thing, whatever it was, was the boss around here, and by taking those riches, they made it utterly furious. The two hid further under the stairs to avoid being spotted as the creature came from the vault, screaming like a banshee. Finally, their eyes adjusted to the darkness enough to see more of it. Thick, almost spider-like legs kept the creature up, and the body was so massive, it was a miracle the wood merely creaked under what had to be several tons of weight. They heard it head into the library, still ranting about whoever stole its money.
Taking a chance, Cuddles crept towards the door, and pulled on it. "It's locked!" he hissed. Toothy soon reached Cuddles and started pulling on the door, finding Cuddles' claim to be accurate. "Just bash it down, it's rotten anyway!" Toothy whispered back. Cuddles nodded, and the two headed towards the stairs and looked at the door. After quietly counting to three, the two began sprinting at full speed towards the door. As the two collided into the door, they heard a deafening crash, and felt a dull pain throughout their bodies, and yet, to their surprise and horror, the door held firm. In fact, it didn't look like it had any damage at all, save the rot that had taken hold of it. They were aghast, how could it still be standing, considering how strong the boys were and how worn the door was? Suddenly, the two heard a loud cackle as the beast began rushing down the stairs. "Finally, some new, fresh meat!" Before they could react, the creature was upon them, slamming them into the wall with surprising strength. Toothy fought through the pain and shined his flashlight on the beast, revealing its form.
Bread mold was an accurate description of the color of the monster's fur, matted to its flesh with caked blood. This is not to say that there was much fur at all, most of it was missing, exposing the muscle underneath. One of its eyes was missing, the other dilating from the beam of light, glowing like a gigantic sapphire. On the left of its head, here was a piece of an ear, possibly ursine. On the right of its head there was a crooked, yellowed, broken horn. Quickly flashing the light over to Cuddles, he could see that the claws holding them were the same rotten yellow. However, something caught Toothy's eye. Against his better judgement, he flashed the creature's body, wide and elephantine in size, and promptly vomited. What he saw were several faces, all seemingly etched into the muscle of the body. Some appeared angry, some appeared anguished, a few even had hideous grins, as if they were macabre jack-o-lanterns. Toothy heard a low growl and turned his attention back to the creature's face, finally noticing its mouth. A large, crocodile-like snout protruded from its face, rotten teeth bared in fury, though Toothy couldn't tell if him flashing the creature's eye was responsible or not. The creature suddenly let out a roar, nearly deafening Toothy right there and then. The decaying stench on its breath would have made Toothy vomit if he hadn't alright at the grizzly sight of the beast. The creature suddenly slammed Toothy into the wall again, and the beaver finally blacked out.
Toothy woke up and instinctively tried to rise, yet found that he could not. With a start, he looked around, and noticed his entire body was bound with chains, bound in such a way that his arms were in front of his body. As he was looking around, he saw Cuddles, one of their flashlights angled so he was visible, bound and gagged with a dirty cloth. Toothy suddenly realized he was gagged as well, with the other light shining into his face. Suddenly, he heard a low growl. "So, you thieves have finally awoken." Toothy craned his neck to look towards the sound, and saw the monster's silhouette in the darkness. Toothy soon heard Cuddles' muffled screams as he woke up, the rabbit thrashing about in an attempt to get free. However, it was to no avail, as the chains were simply too strong, as if subject to the same force that kept them from opening the door to their escape. The creature laughed, "Don't bother. Those chains are reinforced with the same magic that flows through this entire manor." After a bit, Cuddles stopped moving, panting from exhaustion, and gazed at Toothy with fearful eyes, as though the purple beaver had some ability to get them out of this mess. Toothy suddenly felt his head grabbed and forcibly turned, staring directly into their captor's face, now contorted into a crooked smile. "Now, I've already searched your pockets, and I wish to know where the rest of the stolen property is. I'm going to remove your gag, and I expect you to tell me." The creature's hands reached behind Toothy, and he felt the gag loosen. "It's in the bedroom, t-the master one. I-it's in a backpack. W-we're sorry, really we are, we didn't know anyone was here." Toothy blurted out, his voice shaking upon every word. The creature laughed, "Well, your honesty is appreciated…" Toothy's heart lightened at that, maybe they would be let go… "…but your apology is unacceptable." The creature finished with a low growl, "For your transgression, you must be punished."
The creature disappeared from view for a moment, before Toothy could see the beast clutching something in its right hand. As it came closer, Toothy's heart skipped a beat, it was a meat cleaver. "Where I come from, those who are guilty of theft are subject to losing their pilfering palms. This is your fate, insolent rat." As the creature spoke, it drew closer, grabbing Toothy's arm. "Wait, please, don't!" Toothy shouted, trying to talk some sense into the beast, but to no avail. With a sickening "twack", the beast slammed the cleaver onto the table beneath Toothy, severing his hands in the process. Toothy let out a bloodcurdling scream of agony, met in volume by the creature's wild laugh. The monster grabbed Toothy's hands from the table, and swallowed them whole. A black, segmented, centipede-like tongue snaked out to lap up the bits of blood on the monster's lips. "Now," the monster began, pressing his face up to Toothy's, "we can get started on the next step." Toothy's heart was racing faster than it ever had before. "N-n-n-n-next st-st-step?" Toothy asked, hardly able to speak from the pain. "Oh, yes," the monster began, "you see, I've noticed while dragging you here that you two are quite large. With all that muscle," the creature began stroking Toothy's chest, "there's meat. So… much… meat!" The monster moaned, licking his lips. "I'm simply famished! No live creature has come in a few days, much less two!" After this, the creature opened its maw and stretched it over Toothy's head. "H-help… p-p-please…" Toothy said weakly as he stared into the creature's throat. Toothy could only register a brief moment of incredible pain before his world faded, the monster biting through half of his face, delighting in the tender meat mixed with the crunch of the bone. With apparent amusement, the monster left Toothy to drain, blood pouring out of the beaver's half-eaten face and the stumps where his hands used to be. Cuddles was shaking like a leaf in the wind as the monster stomped over to him, bile leaking from the corners of his gag, as he had vomited from what happened to his friend. He barely had time to register the monster's laugh before the cleaver came down, severing his hands. As Cuddles howled in pain, he felt what seemed like countless needles being driven into his lower half. As his eyes opened, his felt the chains being undone, and he saw what was happening. The beast had its jaws around the lower half of his body, and before he could react, the monster began whipping its head back and forth, shaking him like a dog shakes a toy. Finally, as the monster stopped, Cuddles felt a searing pain as it crunched through his body, now dangling the rabbit by his intestines. With a muffled laugh, the creature grabbed Cuddles' upper half, and tore the rabbit apart, leaving the rabbit to die yet again. With a groan that came with the pleasure of a good meal, the beast looked at the remains of its two visitors, and realized something. What if there were more? What if there was a village nearby? Surely there had to be, and more meat to be had. The monster pondered for a moment before grinning, perhaps it would find something to help guide its way to its next meal.